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Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Singled out!

My personal experience with
travel restrictions make me believe that prejudice and desire for more control,
not genuine security concerns, are what lie at their heart.

From a demonstration in front of the Syrian Embassy in Washington D.C., 2011

Deutsche-Welle -- For a few weeks in early 2005, I
came under a travel ban imposed by the Syrian military intelligence because of
my "unauthorized activities involving contacts with foreign agents and
giving lectures at suspect institutions.” This was a reference to my time as a
visiting fellow at the Saban Center for Mideast Policy at the Brookings
Institution in Washington D.C. when I made a number of public talks and media
appearances. I also wrote a number of articles for the Lebanese Daily Star
among others that were quite critical of the Assad regime.

With time, the ban was eased and
I was officially allowed to travel again, but I was always kept waiting for a
special authorization from various security agencies, whether I travelled by
air or land. There were times when the permission did not materialize and I was
turned back. Theoretically, I was supposed to report to the military and
political security branches after each trip, but I never did. When I was
finally ordered to leave the country in September 2005 on account of my
"rogue” behavior, my wife and stepchildren were processed ahead of me and
I had to wait until the last minute before being allowed to board the plane.
The security people had to wait for an "OK” from various intelligence
branches, or so I was told.

That was in the days before the
Syrian Revolution and the international proxy war that it sparked, before the
mass incarceration, torture and liquidation, before the mass deportations and
ethnic cleaning, before the massacres and barrel bombs, before hundreds and
thousands of people like me could be "disappeared" without a trace
and often without generating any meaningful protest or condemnation. I was
lucky.

I was lucky

I was also lucky to be granted
the opportunity to come back to Washington D.C. Despite restrictions imposed on
travel from Syria and other Muslim-majority countries in the aftermath of the
9/11 terrorist attacks, we were able to obtain a visa, although it was clear
that we would be applying for asylum, as we did. The politics of the George W.
Bush administration worked in our favor. My wife and I were liberal
pro-democracy activists who had advocated democracy and human rights at home,
peace with our neighbors and friendly relations with the West. Our occasional
criticism of US policy had not turned anyone in Washington against us. Our
freedom of speech was considered sacrosanct, it seems, long before we became
citizens.

When we eventually did apply for
asylum in 2006, it took close to three years before we received the official
approval while different security agencies ran the necessary background checks.
Meanwhile, we were granted work permits, our kids went to school and on to
college, and we were eventually given permits that allowed us to travel abroad.
The restrictions imposed after the 9/11 attacks did make our traveling
experiences uncomfortable, on some occasions more than others, and I was often
selected for "random” checks. But these seemed like minor inconveniences,
whose frequency decreased with time, especially after we obtained our green
cards. By the time we finally received our citizenship and US passports in the
summer of 2016, we were already living and traveling just like ordinary US
citizens.

Obama's problematic measures

However, there were foreseeable
complications already. No. Not the executive order signed by President Donald
Trump banning travel from certain Muslim-majority countries. I'm referring here
to an "anti-terrorism” measure introduced by the Obama
administration at the beginning of early 2016 which barred dual
nationals of Iran, Iraq, Syria or Sudan from the US's visa waiver program. This
measure was problematic for exactly the same reason that Trump's executive
order in both its initial and current iteration is; it singles out people not
on the basis of anything controversial that they might have said or done,
controversial enough to be considered as posing a potential security risk, but
simply on the basis of their background, in this case national, a background that
nobody chooses.

The other problem with Obama's
measure was the possibility that European countries might adopt similar
policies against US dual nationals. There were grumblings for sure, but it took
Mr. Trump's far broader measure to actually get the EU parliament to issue a serious threat in this regard. The second iteration of the executive order, while removing
certain confusing elements regarding green card holders and dual citizens,
remains problematic in the fact that it adopts the same blanket approach
towards citizens of certain countries. This approach will divide families, my
wider family included, seeing that no-one in Syria can now apply for a US visa
and that we cannot visit this war-ravaged country, from which we were exiled.
There are certainly thousands like us all over the United States: Syrians,
Sudanese, Yemenis and others who now have to deal with this heartache.
Moreover, the executive order will reinforce the hostility and misconceptions
that many US citizens have regarding people from these countries, as well as
Muslims in general. This, at a time when hate crimes against Muslims, or those
suspected of being Muslims, such as Hindus or Sikhs, are on the rise.

Second-class citizens

While the EU seems unwilling to
adopt reciprocal measures at this stage, I cannot help but feel that my family
and I finally became US citizens just in time for us to be considered
second-class citizens – a group that will for long be suspected and unwanted by
a significant percentage of their fellow citizens on account of nothing more
than background, even though our ideals and actions may reveal greater
understanding of and more commitment to US values than that shown by our
denigrators.

These are arguably not the best
of times for people who hail from "certain” backgrounds. Add to the mix,
the isolation that Arab Muslim liberal activists often face even within their
own communities, and this conclusion can be restated in even stronger terms. In
practical terms, however, this only means one thing: the struggle for
equality and justice must go on.

Go ahead, patronize me!

About Ammar

I am a Syrian-American Author and Blogger, and I currently work as a political analyst at Alhurra. The Delirica is a blog that relates my personal views and takes on current developments which do not necessarily reflect those espoused by any institution with which I am affiliated. My most recent publication is titled “The Irreverent Activist” and is available on Amazon.

The Delirica

Throughout the years, I have operated a variety of political, intellectual and artistic blogs in both Arabic and English. However, I am currently relying on The Delirica as my main personal online outlet for political analysis in English. All my previous online writings in English can be accessed at Ammar.World, The Daily Digest of Global Delirium and related sites. Arabic readers should refer to Hartaqah.